Joe Rogan moves to Spotify, The Musafir Stories interview and some spine-chilling podcasts
In this edition, we look at censorship accusations on Joe Rogan’s podcast, an interview with Saif Omar of The Musafir Stories podcast which is complemented with some foodie podcast recommendations
September 2020 is here. In the podcast world, that also means popular podcaster Joe Rogan has now moved his entire podcast library to Spotify. While Spotify has now started listing Rogan’s podcasts, I can still see his podcast listed on Stitcher. Starting 1 December though, all of Rogan’s podcasts will only be available on Spotify. His video channel will also stop featuring entire episodes on YouTube as that may too move to Spotify.
In case you are wondering, who is Joe Rogan, here’s his short bio and why Spotify paid a hefty $100 million to licence his show, The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE):
Joe Rogan is a former TV-show host (Fear Factor on AXN India anyone?), MMA commentator, stand up comedian and a popular podcaster. His podcast, JRE, has been around since 2009 and he commands an average of 190 million downloads per month. Rogan is seen as a controversial figure as he has no-holds barred interviews with a range of people on his podcasts, across the left and the right ideologies. He has also been accused of making sexist, racist and transphobic comments in his podcast. Some even call him an enabler of fringe voices who aren't challenged enough about their ideas.
Since the move to Spotify on 1 September, some episodes featuring right-wing figures have been omitted on Spotify, causing a lot of his fans to accuse Rogan of selling out. Will the move eventually influence who Rogan gets on as his guests? Rogan claims there will be no changes, but a Reddit thread has already listed around 46 episodes that have not moved over to Spotify. Only time will tell how this plays out for both Rogan and Spotify.
Controversies aside, Rogan has interviewed some influential names such as Elon Musk, Bernie Sanders, Edward Snowden, Gary Vaynerchuck, Richard Dawkins, Anthony Bourdain, Ed Norton and many more. And here's the thing: the interviews on JRE aren't short. The first interview with Elon Musk, yes THAT interview where Musk smoked a blunt and saw Tesla's share prices fall, went on for over 2.5 hours. The inaugural episode for Spotify on 1 September ran over 5 hours! That's pretty much the standard fare on JRE. It's great to listen to domain experts speaking without time limitations, something you rarely get to see otherwise. In the second interview with Elon Musk, for instance, Musk spoke at length about Neuralink, the brain implant technology. Musk also elaborated on his plans for this new human-computer interface, weeks before he announced a working prototype - the merits of which are up for debate among the science community.
Bottom line: Whether or not you like JRE, it is an influential podcast. Don't take my word for it, look up the most popular or featured podcast list on any podcast aggregator (till 1 December) and you're bound to find JRE in it.
I had written a piece on why Spotify having Rogan onboard was a huge deal when the news first broke in May. You can read it here.
Podcasters in focus: Saif Omar and Faiza Khan
Podcast: The Musafir Stories
It has been close to six months now since I have travelled anywhere. I am sure that is the case with most of you as well. Yes, we are living through a major pandemic and it may seem strange to talk about leisure travel but we all need a break from the grim news we come across every day. While travelling for fun will still take some time to resume, nothing is stopping you for making plans for future travels. This week’s podcast creators in focus may just help you make some plans to travel within India. I have been listening to The Musafir Stories for a year now and I really love the fact that they go deep on one Indian destination every fortnight.
Here’s an excerpt of the interaction with Saif Omar of The Musafir Stories:
How did the idea of 'The Musafir Stories' come about?
Travel podcasts have always been a regular feature on my playlist. I am an avid listener of some great travel podcasts like Amateur Traveler (our inspiration!), Travel with Rick Steves, The Trip, Extra pack of peanuts and many more.
After moving back to India in 2016, and being a newly married couple (note: Saif does this podcast with his wife, Faiza, who’s the co-founder of the podcast) we were looking at projects which we could work together on, that would not only help us spend time together after work but also do something both of us enjoyed. After going through a laundry list of ideas, we finally settled on the idea of starting a travel podcast - the selfish motive being that it would help us discover India in the process.
For better or worse, travel is generally associated with a lot of visuals. With the podcast medium, how do you ensure that the podcast retains the essence of 'transporting someone to a place' with audio?
While it is true that travel is a highly visual medium, storytelling through engaging conversations has its own USP of being able to paint a mental image of the place/destination and the experience for the listener. Even better, each listener paints his/her own version of the place based on the conversation. So rather than being “shown” the image/video of a place, audio, through these conversations helps “create” an image of the place which I feel is a very satisfying experience in itself. Additionally, the sense of virtually travelling “with" the speaker/traveller is far more with podcasts given the very intimate nature of audio.
What is your larger objective with 'The Musafir Stories'?
The Musafir Stories is a passion project that aims to create a timeless audio catalogue of places and experiences in India - not just the popular ones that make it to bucket lists but also the less travelled and hidden gems that have their own unique stories. Our goal is to build this though some fun conversations with travellers by not only sharing their experiences, tips and recommendations but also by helping shed some light on the history, culture and people of the place - all while being light on the ear.
How do you decide on the guests you interview on your podcast? What are the criteria that any guest has to fulfil to be on your show?
The curation for each episode is usually based on either a place that really excites us or a traveller who’s travel style we really appreciate. We’ve tried to have people who travel either full time or close to full time (ie. travel writers and bloggers) to ensure conversations are fun as well as informative. However, we do invite listeners from time to time to encourage the community as well as add some unpredictability to the line-up. The bottom line is to have an engaging story/account of a place and being able to express that in a descriptive way for audio.
Covid19 lockdowns have made travel impossible over the last six months and there is no sign of leisure travel beginning any time soon in India, how then do you stay motivated?
While it is true that the pandemic has taken a toll both on travel and the mental sanity of a lot of us, we would like to believe that the podcast offers a great alternative in the meantime by taking you places from the comfort of your homes. Armchair travel FTW!
To read the full interview head here.
Important developments in India
Here’s a list of the top 50 podcasts on Spotify India. It has a strange mix of podcasts from some known names to random entries. The Michelle Obama Podcast seems to have entered the top 10 in most countries that Spotify operates in. It gives a good idea of podcast listening trends across 56 countries.
Spotify has launched yet another original, this time in partnership with Asiaville. Talking tales with Tulika will have stories in Hindi, Tamil and English read out by multiple voice actors. It is aimed at toddlers to improve their language as well as imaginative skills.
Important developments globally
Amazon is starting to make strides in the podcasting space, even though it doesn’t like to refer to its audio story-telling offerings as podcasts. The Audible Plus plan launched at $7.95 per month will give listeners in the US (followed by other international markets) access to Audible content as well as audio content licensed by Amazon. In India, we have Audible Suno which is a free app having podcasts and audio storytelling shows licensed by Suno. Audible Plus is expected to offer 68,000+ hours of content and 11,000+ productions which will be exclusive to the plan subscribers. Amazon is expected to launch exclusive content from celebrities for its international audience.
Indian podcasts in focus
This time around, I want to share some fiction podcasts that have me engrossed and that are not for the faint of the heart.
Indian Noir
Indian Noir is one of the most popular crime, dark fantasy and horror podcasts from an Indian independent creator. The brainchild of Nikesh Murali, Indian Noir comprises many stories told over multiple episodes. The chronology may seem out of whack at times, as there are some instances where after 8 episodes of one story there is the first episode of another story. The titles make things clear thankfully. Being a professional voice actor, Nikesh’s effortless voice modulation paired with the sound design makes every episode immersive.
As Indian Noir is a multi-part storytelling podcast, there aren’t any particular episodes to recommend, but rather stories which have gone into multiple seasons. I was hooked on to Fear FM and His night begins. The podcast is currently eight episodes in on an Indian fantasy series called Dev/Asur.
Kaali Awaazein
Let's go a little deeper on the horror front, shall we?
Kaali Awaazein is an Audible Suno original and is a 10-part horror anthology with introductory narration by Amitabh Bachchan. This Hindi-series comprises ghost stories, psychological thrillers, supernatural phenomena from some of India’s haunted places. The first episode starts off with Bhangarh - the tiny hamlet in Rajasthan where you are banned from entering after sunset. The use of surround sound raises the immersive experience in each story. It's quite well produced and if you like the horror genre, the best time to listen to it is as you are going to bed and the lights are out.
Some interesting episodes I’ve heard on Kaali Awaazein:
International Podcasts for the fortnight
Since I have already interviewed the creators of a travel podcast this time, I thought some food-related podcasts would go nicely with it. This is a category I started listening to a lot during the lockdown, another one of those escape-mechanisms during the pandemic. Initially, I used to think I wouldn’t really get hooked on to food podcasts, as there was no visual element to lust after. But just like travel, food podcasts can be as immersive if presented right. Check out these three and let me know what you think. I am also exploring some Indian food-related podcasts and shall recommend some in a future newsletter.
If you are a foodie who would like to tease your grey cells and know more about the science and history behind food, then this podcast is highly recommended. Hosts Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley keep you engaged with expert interviews, fun anecdotes and on-location sounds. Every episode is packed full of fun trivia you can discuss with your family and friends at the next social gathering, whenever that happens. Some episodes you can try out if you haven’t heard of this podcast are:
The history of Sherbet/Sorbet/Syrup
How gene-editing or ‘Frankenfoods’ are altering our food systems?
How glass became such an important part of kitchens?
This podcast’s tagline is: It’s not for foodies, it's for eaters. It fulfils that brief in every episode which is fun, conversational and delving into food cultures and the people behind certain foods. You can do a deep dive into the history of ketchup or go undercover with a New York Times food reviewer or get to know how you can taste food like a flavour chemist. Sadly, a lot of the archived episodes are only available to listen to if you are a Stitcher Premium subscriber, but there’s still enough episodes to give you a flavour of this podcast.
If you haven’t seen Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat on Netflix, then I’d highly recommend it. The show is adapted from a book by the same name written by Samin Nosrat. The same Nosrat also co-hosts the Home Cooking podcast (which started during the pandemic) in her inimitable laughter-filled style. The idea behind the show is to help you cook with whatever ingredients you have lying around at home. Every episode has questions from listeners that are answered along with some practical cooking tips. Yes, sometimes the ingredients and food items discussed are too American, but there’s no harm in expanding your repertoire of recipes now, is it?
That’s all for this week’s newsletter. As always, it would be great to hear your feedback and what you would like to know more about in future editions of Indian Podcasting.
Have a great week ahead and happy listening.